A note about MGS 4

Yes, I will review it.

No, it probably won't be anytime soon after the game.

Metal Gear Online will get a separate review because I already expect the MGS 4 one to get lengthy.

That is all.

Edit: Meh, not gonna review it after all

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Awesomeness

So, I am a huge music game fan. I can play everything on Rock Band, and Guitar Hero on expert. But I just got very excited about Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. Why, you ask? Because freaking Run DMC songs are on the setlist! Both King of Rock (with awesome new solos) and Walk This Way are in. Not only that but DMC himself comes out to rap for both songs.

The setlist so far is looking good, and it seems like it will be a bigger game that the other Guitar Hero spin off (Rocks The 80's) Either way I am pretty excited about it and can't wait for it to come out in June.

Preview: Battlefield Bad Company Demo Impressions

If you can't beat them, blow them up.

So, as you know a little while back I put up my impressions of the Bad Company Multiplayer Beta. My thoughts on the game were mostly positive and felt they only needed to fix a few things. Notably, the balance in the Goldrush mode and a few bugs they needed to clean up.

So, since I already wrote about the Multiplayer I will focus on the single player part of the demo. The mission in the demo is called "Welcome to Bad Company" and it is pretty obvious that it is the first mission in the game. The cutscenes in the game easily have some of the best character models and lighting I have seen in a game. Once you get into the action there isn't a whole lot of hand holding. There are control tips that pop up, but there is no real tutorial and the game realizes that you are probably a at least decently intelligent person.

Now, there is a story here, but in all honesty I just skipped most of the cutscenes to get to the action. The basic gist if the story is that your character would've been sent to prison, but instead was sent to work with the Army's "B-Company" who is a ragtag group of tough guys blah, blah, blah. All you need to know is that a lot of stuff explodes. The game plays very well, although I did have to turn down the sensitivity a bit because at the default I couldn't control my aim very much at all.

Now, the major problem I saw in the demo is that, at times, there is WAY too much going on at one time. The final sequence of the demo is especially chaotic, often leading to times where I had no idea where I was going or where I was being shot from. Thankfully, at no time did the framerate drop during times where I would be taking out buildings with an RPG while bullets flew by me. There is some screen tearing so if that bothers you, just know that it is there.

A quick aside about multiplayer. I only played two games of it but did notice a few new things. It definitely feels more polished than the beta which was expected. They tweaked some of the UI to make it a little easier to use, and it seems like they did go back and balance Goldrush so that the better team was always winning. Now, like I said, this is from only two 30 minute games so impressions may change in the future, but all in all it seems like Bad Company it going to be a solid FPS with really fun multiplayer and plenty of destruction.

by Nicolas Perez

New Look for the Blog

I felt I needed a change, that blue was getting boring. Hope you like the new look.

Review: Penny Arcade Adventures: On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode 1

Otherwise known as PAA:OTR-SPoD

I promise I will never use that acronym again. Rain-slick is the first of four episodes in the Penny Arcade Adventures series. The game is developed and published by Hothead Games and was a joint effort with the folks over at Penny Arcade.

The writing and art style were obviously created by the Penny Arcade, and this results in one of the coolest looking, and funniest games I have played. The main story of the game revolves around your character's (who you create at the beginning of the game) house being stepped on by a giant robot. You soon meet up with Tycho and Gabe (who, if you read PA, you should know) and you party up to go figure out the mystery behind this robot.

The gameplay is almost like a mashup between a point-and-click adventure game and an RPG, although heavily leaning toward RPG gameplay. All movement is handled by the mouse, and most combat, except for blocking and special moves, is handled by the mouse as well. You also get "summons" including a seemingly useless cat. The combat is functional but not amazing, it is fast enough to keep from being a chore.

There are four environments to look around, but only one of them really has any extra things to do. There is a collection of NPCs in each area to give you small sub quests and once again the writing for these characters is very good.

The biggest problem with the game is that too many of the quests are just fetch missions. These start to get old quick, but since this is an episodic game it is fairly short (probably will take you about 5-6 hours.) The game wraps up how you expect for an episodic game, with a lot of questions unanswered.

Overall, if you are a fan of Penny Arcade, there is no reason for you not to at least try the game. There is a demo for every platform it is on (360, PC, Mac, Linux) so there is no excuse not to try it. If you aren't a fan of Penny Arcade, there is a lot of enjoyment here for you too but you may have to try the demo before you drop the slightly steep amount of $20 for the game.

Verdict: B

by Nicolas Perez

Also, an update.

So beside the Boom Blox review, I am going to try and write up MLB Power Pros, No More Heroes (A little late to the party on these two) and Final Fantasy Crytal Chronicles: My Life As A King. I was going to try and write up GTA4, but it is proving to be longer than expected so that may have to take a back seat for a while. Next month, expect reviews of Metal Gear Solid 4, and Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (maybe a few others too). I am also going to try and put something up on the blog every week at least, now that I have some more free time (yay Summer!) 

Review: Boom Blox

Welcome To The Party, Explosions Are Over There

Lately I have been on a bit of a Wii kick. Starting with my purchase of No More Heroes. So lately I have been focusing a little more on the little Nintendo console. So looking at recent reviews I decided to give EA's Boom Blox a try as it seemed like a nice break from constant shooters and action games.

Boom Blox is a game that was designed by Steven Spielberg, which is a shock to most people because there really isn't much of a story here or really anything that needs writing. But he took more of a design position and it makes the outlook for his other EA games much more positive.

Boom Blox is a puzzle game at its heart. You will either be throwing a ball at blocks, or grabing blocks from a stack Jenga style. The better part of the two is the throwing mechanic. You have to swing the Wiimote pretty hard if you are trying to nock over a lot of the blocks in game. This is a game where wearing your Wii wrist strap is a REALLY good idea. 

The throwing portion slowly introduces you to the different types of blocks in the game. There are Gem blocks (shown above) which don't do much except make sparkles when they hit the ground. There are also Bomb blocks which explode when you hit them, and Chemical blocks which explode when you knock them together. Point blocks are very prominent in the game and many of the goals are centered around them, such as trying to knock them into a multiplier zone to get points.

The throwing is great and is fun even when you are failing. This brings us to the other part of the game though, the grabbing portion. For the first couple of levels these all work OK, you aren't pressured too much and you can take your time. But quickly things such as timers are added and bring about some truly frustrating moments. I had to shut the game off at one point because of a particular puzzle that frustrated me so much.

There is a story mode, although the story is pretty rudimentary and involves the different block characters such as gorillas, sheep, dogs, etc. The characters actually add a bit of charm to game that would've been pretty sterile without them. The art style used in the game is very bright and cartoony, a huge shift away from what we have been seeing with games lately going darker. The sound is pretty good and the music is OK but it isn't anything to write home about.

The game really is great, and the visuals keep up for sure. Is is so unusual seeing a physics based game on the Wii and it seems like a huge technical achievement for the system. There is even an edit mode for making your own levels, which you can then share online. The games largest downfall are the grabbing levels, too many of them are simply too frustrating to be fun and could turn some people off from the game. Overall, this is a great effort for the Wii and shows that a "casual" game done right can be fun for everyone.

Verdict: A-

by Nicolas Perez